Sundance South?

Phoenix Film Festival. Sounds kinda rinky-dink, right? Well, that’s how the East Coast film snobs must’ve reacted back in 1978 when the Utah Film Commission unveiled its Utah/United States Film Festival. From such barren seed sprang Sundance, and you don’t hear much bleating from the cognoscenti these days. While our PFF won’t ever be Sundance – we think – it’s developed into a sweet little showcase in its seven years of existence.

The eighth incarnation promises a full slate of celebrity drop-ins and cinematic delights, including the Arizona première of What We Do Is Secret, a punk biopic of The Germs’ star-crossed singer Darby Crash; Forbidden Kingdom, the much-anticipated debut pairing of martial arts superheroes Jackie Chan and Jet Li; and the first-person doc Skid Row by Pras Michel of the band The Fugees.